The Wedding Planner (2001)

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General		Extras
Category	Romantic Comedy	Main Menu Audio & Animation Dolby Digital Trailer-Aurora Menu Audio Audio Commentary-Adam Shankman (Director) et al Featurette-The Dancer and the Cowboy Featurette-Making Of Deleted Scenes-4 +/- director's commentary Theatrical Trailer Trailer-Muriel's Wedding; The Wedding Singer Biographies-Cast & Crew
Rating
Year Of Production	2001
Running Time	99:15 (Case: 103)
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (70:17)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Adam Shankman
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Jennifer Lopez Matthew McConaughey Bridgette Wilson-Sampras Justin Chambers Alex Rocco
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	$34.95	Music	Mervyn Warren

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

Video

    This is stunning video in every sense of the word.

    Presented in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1, this release is 16x9 enhanced.

    Sharpness is about the best I have ever seen. The odd trace of edge enhancement pops up once or twice, but it is barely noticeable. Shadow detail is handled with aplomb and grain is completely absent, which makes a very nice change. There is no low level noise.

    Colours are fantastic and coupled with the detail of the transfer are among the best I have seen. This is a great disc to show off just how good the quality of a DVD picture can be. The scenes at the various weddings where there are numerous coloured dresses and flowers are exceptional with a multitude of colours in every shade. No bleeding or oversaturation occurs.

    There are no MPEG artefacts, and the only film-to-video artefact I noticed was the most trivial shimmer on a tile roof at 41:35. Film artefacts are also virtually non-existent.

    There is only one subtitle stream available, this being an English for the Hearing Impaired track. No problems were noticed with them.

    The Wedding Planner is presented on a single sided, dual layered disc with RSDL formatting. The layer change is at 70:17. It's pretty well placed as I missed it the first time through, and only caught it during the audio commentary. It is placed on a scene change and is not disruptive at all.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    There are two audio tracks on this disc, these being an English Dolby Digital 5.1 track and am English Dolby Digital 2.0 commentary track. The 5.1 track is not what I would call an all-enveloping soundtrack, but it is a modern one and does all that is required of it.

   Dialogue is always very prominent and handled beautifully. There are no audio sync problems (except in one of the extras - see below).

    The music is a variety of traditional bridal pieces and contemporary love songs. Pretty typical of this type of film.

    There isn't a great deal of surround use. They do spring into life at 46:78-47:03 when the horses bolt. Other than that, they are pretty silent.
   
    The subwoofer is not stretched to any great limit, mainly supporting some of the music.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Main Menu Audio & Animation

    A 16x9 enhanced main menu that shows Matthew McConaughey and Jennifer Lopez  with a dream bubble above her and various images from the movie. A full Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is offered, with one of the instrumental themes playing.

Dolby Digital Trailer-Aurora

Menu Audio

    The special features sub menu has a full Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack also. This plays the instrumental piece that Mary and Steve first dance to at the dancing studio.

Audio Commentary-Adam Shankman (Director) et al

    First time director Adam Shankman and the two scriptwriters chatter constantly about the film. They start off chatting over the top of each other, which is quite annoying, but they soon get it worked out, and provide quite a bit of information about everything; casting, script development and change, locations, and other anecdotes. A lot of the scenes tend to be described as their 'favourite' bit of the movie and the scriptwriters tend to suck up to the director quite a bit, but this is certainly not the worst commentary I have heard and certainly adds value to the viewing experience. Better than average is how I would judge it.

Featurette-The Dancer and the Cowboy

    With a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack, this is a very brief featurette that focuses on the dance sequence where Mary and Steve are at the Dancing studio and the sequence where they are horse riding (hence the title). It is comprised mostly of behind the scenes footage and interview style footage with Matthew McConaughey and Jennifer Lopez discussing how Mathew had trouble with the dancing and Jennifer had problems with the horses. Running time is 2:54 minutes.

Featurette-Making Of

    Not your usual making-of feature. This one only runs for 3:24 minutes so it's more like an extended trailer that includes some interview segments and behind the scenes footage. Presented full frame 1.33:1 with footage from the movie in 1.78:1 letterbox, it is not 16x9 enhanced. I was pretty disappointed with this.

Deleted Scenes-4 +/- director's commentary

    A selection of four deleted scenes that quite nicely allow you to play all of them sequentially or select the one that you want from the sub menu. These can also be viewed with a director's commentary which is much enlightening than watching these without it. Unfortunately, they do not have running times attributed to them, although they run for approximately 8 minutes in total.

    The scenes are presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, are not 16x9 enhanced and come with a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack. The quality is truly awful. There is lots of grain and a general muddiness to the whole picture.

Theatrical Trailer

    Running for 2:31 minutes, this trailer is presented in 1:85:1 and is 16x9 enhanced. It basically gives away every plot twist present in the film. I strongly advise against watching this trailer before the film lest it spoil everything.

Trailers-Muriel's Wedding; The Wedding Singer

    If there was ever a reason not to include trailers for other movies, then this is it. I think they have only been included because they have the word Wedding in their title. The DVD of The Wedding Singer is renowned across the land as having serious audio sync problems, and believe it or not this trailer has exactly the same problems. It is cringe-inducing to watch and not a good advertisement for the medium. A big mistake including this one.

Biographies-Cast & Crew

    Very detailed  bios of the main three cast members and filmographies for the remainder. Presented in a very nice and easy to read typeface. They are a real warts and all information session for Jennifer Lopez detailing how she was arrested in relation to that nightclub shooting with Sean Puffy Coombs and how Matthew McConaughey was arrested for Marijuana possession and playing the bongos in the nude! - too much information I think in this case.

    The Region 4 DVD misses out on;

• An addtional  Dolby Surround Soundtrack

• A couple of extra deleted scenes

• French and Spanish subtitles

• Trailers for My Best Friend's Wedding, U-Turn, and Anaconda

• A Coupon for 10% discount at 1-800-flowers.com!

    The Region 1 DVD misses out on;

• Trailers for Muriel's Wedding and The Wedding Singer.

    Nothing really critical is missing from the local disc which I would favour for the PAL formatting and price saving.

    The Wedding Planner is a fairly lightweight, sugar coated tale that really doesn't lift off to any to great heights. Jennifer Lopez proves she has some acting talent, though this is hardly the material to stretch her capabilities.

    An absolutely stunning video transfer is the highlight of this release. It really is worth getting hold of, even if only as a rental to just check out the exquisite sharpness and colours throughout. The audio is serviceable, and the extras are better than average with the commentary track being the best of them.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall